Synopsis

Stefano is a boy who loves to weave reeds and wicker baskets and to make baskets and panare.
He comes from four generations of basket makers and is very close to his grandfather with whom he shares the art of weaving, often going to the pine forests of the Alimini Lakes to dig up reeds and wicker baskets, which after the necessary
treatment will be used to make, panare, sporte, cannizzi and cofane, typical objects of the artisan and peasant tradition of Salento. His family is very poor, his father is a farmer, they live off what the countryside has to offer and want to go to Switzerland to live better. His mother lovingly assists him but cannot hide the difficulties of daily life. The conflictual relationship with his friend from a bourgeois background, the daily excesses caused by poverty, the petty thefts in his grandfather’s house, the hostile attitude towards a teacher who is not inclined to a more loving and inclusive teaching, constitute that set of adventures characterized by transgression and disobedience, which will favor his reliance on religious institutions. The screenplay is inspired by Rina Durante’s story “Il Tramontana” (1966), which later became a feature film directed by Alessandro Barbano, focusing the narration on the young protagonist’s passion for the Mediterranean scrub, dotted with pine forests where he spends his adolescence.

AWARDS: